1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a notepad or notebook computer interface that facilitates input via a pen and, more particularly, to a system that provides interface elements particularly suitable for pen-based input to, and interaction with, electronic documents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Making electronic information as handy as paper requires an interaction model which is somewhat different than conventional systems. Documents, the primary form in which people obtain and produce information, are most familiar and manipulable in the form of paper pages. What is needed is a notepad or notebook computer based system that allows the easy manipulation of document pages. Marking on documents directly, with a pen, provides the most leverage of human motor skills for adding to and interacting with documents. What is needed is a pen based method of marking on and interacting with documents within a notepad or notebook computer.
Organizing information for recall is best done according to one's own experience and mental associations, i.e. “when, where I saw it last”, and “what I think it's related to.” What is needed is a system that will organize documents according to the user's experience and mental model.
Such a device and its software needs to: render in pages, favoring a portrait aspect ratio and dedicating as much of the screen as possible to displaying the page; support tasks via transitional user interface (U/I) elements which may appear inside or outside or overlapping with the page, and which are controlled directly with the tip of the actual pen (there is no other representation of the pen's location) taking into account the users left or right-handedness, with appearance and behaviors that are both obvious and unobtrusive, easy-to learn and efficient; and support the layering of ink and transitional U/I elements over the content in ways that minimize obstruction of the content and include presentation of such transitional elements in a way which exploits the viewer's ability to resolve overlapping and translucent images. Additionally, the system must support text entry via the pen, but not let the conversion of pen input to text impede the perceived natural flow of events.
A notebook computer should behave and allow interaction with it in a manner similar to interaction with a paper notebook. Likewise, a notepad computer should behave and allow interaction with it in a manner similar to interaction with a paper notepad. For example, when flipping pages of paper the user can separate a corner of the page from a stack to make it easier to flip. The position of the user within a stack of pages of a paper is readily visible via looking at the edge of the stack. A paper user can change pens (inks) with the simple motion of picking up another pen. What is needed is an interface that provides such functions simply and intuitively.